ELEVEN million copies of the Bible were distributed last year by the British and Foreign Bible Society. These editions were for what might be termed missionary use, in that the greater number of them were sent into “all the world.” England retained 855,000 of the newly issued Bibles; but the author of the report fears that the English people are not so much given to study of this Book as in former generations. “They perceive,” he writes, “no beauty in its literature, no guidance in its teachings, no power in its message.”

This viewpoint may not be wholly justified; for the Bible is read more generally in homes than a superficial survey may indicate.

The Bible now is printed in 678 languages and dialects, an increase of eleven over the year. In Africa alone, nine new and distinct translations were offered in 1933. China absorbed 3,900,000 copies of last year’s prints, and Asia as a whole, 6,700,000 copies. Demand was found in Europe for 1,600,000 new Bibles in various tongues.

More important than mere numbers is the extent to which the Gospel of Peace is permeating world thought. While national capitals teem with talk and preparations for war, the masses of humanity are hopeful for better days than those of the battlefield.

Notwithstanding the opposition to religious teaching which has appeared in Russia, and to an extent in Germany and some of the Latin countries, it has been said with some basis of fact that this opposition, to a large extent, is the expression of misconceptions of the Christianly purpose. Actions of those countries which seem determined upon disturbance of the orderly processes of established